being great. it’s something that all of us aspire to be, not necessarily in the eyes of those around us, but at least in our own eyes, and hopefully in the eyes of our creator. we can all be great, we can all do awesome things with our lives in thousands of different capacities. for some it’s minor acts of service and others it’s holding major offices or being known globally. both are important, and both are necessary. the question isn’t what one should, or can, do to be great, but rather how to achieve that greatness.
two separate books address this issue from two sometimes competing theories. “strengthsfinder”, originally developed by the gallup corporation, and “do hard things”, written by twin brothers, provide us with these different theories on achieving greatness.
strengthsfinder suggests that we will collectively be our strongest and individually reach greatness when we determine what we’re best at, apply ourselves fully to those skills, and surround ourselves with others who excel at those skills which we do not. the gallup organization has devised a system, a test of sorts, to help us determine our top 5 strengths. access to the test is provided by purchasing their latest book
strengthsfinder 2.0″ (available at barnes n’ noble, borders, amazon.com, etc.). of a possible 34 strengths, being given the top 5 is rather pleasing. numerous cohorts of mine have used this book and its assessment to determine our strengths and find that it is quite accurate. when i took the test my top 5 strengths include:
context
learner
achiever
arranger
relator
there is a lot to be said for this approach as it teaches us to focus on using those gifts that are natural to us and to depend on others for those that we aren’t. if you aren’t a team player, this system will likely give you heartburn as you deal with groups of people. for those who work in groups well, surrounding yourself with a team that recognizes their strengths is an ideal working situation.
the competing theory to the strengths approach is found in a book i just finished
Do Hard Things by alex and brett harris. alex and brett are home-schooled teenagers who write the book from a strong christian perspective. the book is geared toward teenagers in an effort to encourage a revolution against low expectations. the harris twins suggest that teenagers are stuck in a rut of just meeting the low expectations of a society. they suggest that we achieve our greatness by digging into those things which we find most difficult. fighting against these low expectations by doing hard things will make us better people, and in our own way, great.
i fully support the theory of “do hard things”. i only ran into an issue, not of disagreement, but of question as i came to page 71 of their text as they write about stepping out of our comfort zone:
“we don’t know about you, but we constantly find ourselves building that invisible fence (the one that keeps threats outside and us inside). We build it higher every time we say or think things like: ‘I’m just not a math person,’ ‘I’m just not organized – my brain doesn’t work that way,’ or ‘I’m just not a people person.’
What’ we’re really saying is that we don’t want to do things that don’t come easily or naturally. We don’t want to break through our fears. And by our actions, we’re also saying that God isn’t good enough and powerful enough to help us do what we can’t comfortably do on our own.”
in this statement we’ve got direct opposition to what strengthsfinder suggests. the harrises suggest that in doing what we’re good at we’re discrediting God. In fact, they go on to suggest that satan wants us to stick to what we’re good at. that by avoiding that of which we’re afraid we’re discrediting God.
of course there’s a middle road here, but it’s one we have to find ourselves. i don’t think we’re doing God a disservice by focusing on what we’re good at, but we would be doing God, and one another, a disservice if we didn’t either try new things or surround ourselves with others who excel where we lack.
my new year’s resolution was “to seek perfection and avoid mediocrity”, so i’ve been reading and thinking. i find myself at a crossroads of utilizing my strengths to do hard things, and at times, pushing myself to try new things and improve myself by strengthening my weaknesses. what are your thoughts? how do we really achieve greatness? and how do the two theories of greatness coexist?
